This 1.25” Astrodon Generation 2 Oxygen III imaging filter has a 5nm FWHM (Full-Width at Half-Maximum transmission) passband centered on the ionized oxygen emission line at 5007 Ångstroms, the stronger of the pair of oxygen emission lines that radiate at 4959Å and 5007Å. Transmission at 5007Å is guaranteed to be greater than 90% (typically 94-97%).

For maximum contrast, the contribution of the 4959Å oxygen emission line, which is only one-third as strong as the 5007Å line, is placed outside the filter’s 5nm passband. Including both emission lines, and accounting for blue spectral shift with faster focal ratio scopes (see below), would require a passband in the 12-15nm range, two and a half times as wide as this Astrodon. This would result in a marked and very visible loss in contrast, particularly when the Moon is out (which affects this portion of the spectrum more strongly than it does the H-alpha and Sodium II regions).

The filter rejects light outside of the desired Oxygen III passband to a mere 0.0004% transmittance from 300nm to 1150 nm. This yields a very high signal to noise ratio and high contrast, even with a bright Moon nearby. In addition, the filter edges are blackened for high contrast.

Unlike some other narrowband filters that use a sandwich design comprised of several pieces of glasses epoxied together, the single substrate design of the Astrodon H-alpha filter minimizes or eliminates internal reflection halos. Astrodon filters are renowned for not producing halos around stars and not leaking near-infrared light that can bloat star images.

The Astrodon Oxygen III filter is supplied in a 1.25” cell. It threads into any color filter wheel that accepts standard 1.25” filters. Unlike conventional filters that are assembled using a metal retaining ring in direct contact with the glass filter, this Astrodon filter uses a rubber O-ring between the filter holder’s retaining ring and the glass filter element. This gently cushions the filter in place, reducing the possibility of scratching or chipping the filter element from direct glass to metal contact.

Narrowband filters shift into the blue with very fast optical systems. This Astrodon filter is designed to have lower blue spectral shift with faster optics than a conventional filter. By placing the emission line at the left edge of the flat-topped passband when used with f/9 to f/10 and higher systems, any shift into the blue with a faster focal ratio simply moves the emission line towards the center of the passband. This keeps the desired transmission at a constant 90% or more, all the way down to an f/3 system.

The filter is parfocal with telescopes as fast as f/4 and is parfocal with all Astrodon LRGB, CRGB, H-a, and SII filters. This eliminates the need to waste valuable observing time finding the correct focus when switching between filters in a filter wheel.

In addition to monochrome images of Oxygen III emission features using this filter, many people use a combination of OIII, SII, and H-alpha filters for tri-color CCD imaging, rather than the traditional RGB filters. This allows them to emulate the amazing false-color Hubble Space Telescope images, such as the famous “Pillars of Creation." The feature image below (courtesy Astrodon Filters) shows the “Gulf of Mexico" area of the large North American emission nebula (NGC7000) near Cygnus. This was taken with an SBIG ST10XME on a Takahashi FSQ106N refractor using OIII, SII, and H-a filters. Blue represents ionized oxygen from the OIII filter. Green represents ionized hydrogen from the H-alpha filter. Red represents ionized sulfur from the SII filter. It is clear that the “Great Ridge" is strong in sulfur. Thus, narrowband filters can provide additional detail about the structure of emission nebula – not to mention striking images.

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Clear skies,
Astronomics

This Astrodon 1.25" Oxygen III filter for CCD imaging is an ideal tool for photographing structure in emission nebulas from light polluted areas or when the Moon is out . . .